Andy Dalton

Information is constantly changing in the NFL and fantasy player values can change at any moment. Having updated, informative news can help you not just at your fantasy football draft but during the regular season. Feel free to glance at our recent articles to make sound decisions throughout the year.

To help you get ready for draft day you will notice articles for ADP advice, cheat sheets, mock drafts and projected stats for Andy Dalton here. During the season, you can also find regular weekly ranking articles at this section as well.

Welcome to Andy Dalton fantasy football outlook archive. At this section of Dalton’s player page you will notice our past thoughts and advice for fantasy football.

Summer of 2012: Fantasy Projections

What was supposed to be a year of struggle for Andy Dalton and the Bengals wound up being a year of prosperity culminating in a playoff birth. While Dalton will never have one of the stronger arms in the league, he did show the ability to run OC Jay Gruden’s offense with precision, getting the football out in a timely fashion and making correct reads.

Dalton even showed he can take calculated shots down the field to rookie phenom A.J. Green, trusting Green’s ability to leap over defenders and come down with the football.

Stockpiling Weapons

The youth movement continues in Cincinnati as No.2 receiver Jerome Simpson was unsigned, and the Bengals opted to bolster their squad with talented rookies like receivers Mohamed Sanu, Marvin Jones, and tight end Orson Charles.

While Sanu and Charles will have roles in this offense, I’m particularly interested in what Jones will do after reading what draft nick Matt Waldman had to say about him, heading towards the draft.

With so many young players in this passing game, it’s hard to know what to make of Dalton’s fantasy value for 2012, as it’s likely, the offense won’t run as polished, early on, as they will in the later part of the season. Green should be phenomenal again, and Dalton is at least worth targeting as a respectable backup in 12 team leagues.

Judging from his early ADP numbers (13.07, 123.3 overall) fantasy owners are viewing him with a backup grade, which should be expected for a quarterback with an average arm, little running ability and youth around him. Still, Dalton does have a promising young offensive coordinator in Gruden (could be a head coach at some point), and he showed the ability to maximize talent last year, so Dalton could emerge as a low end starter, as the season moves along.

	Passing Stats			Rushing Stats
	Yards	TD	INT	Yards	TD
2012 Projected Stats	3,585	23	11	44	0

Summer of 2011: Fantasy Projections

After a disappointing season, the Bengals veterans are looking to move on from the organization as veteran quarterback Carson Palmer is demanding a trade, or he will retire. While we won’t know for sure if Palmer will be gone until the lockout ends, it looks like the Bengals have shown their hand in preparing for a rebuild as they selected receiver A.J. Green with their first pick and took Andy Dalton in the second round.

If Palmer is gone, Dalton will be given an opportunity to start right away, but hopefully the Bengals will give him some time to learn from a veteran. No matter who is under center, don’t be surprised if the Bengals return to a smash mouth running game like they had in 2009 with Cedric Benson.

While the Bengals will probably lose often this season, I don’t believe they will shy away from the run just because they are behind. Running the football will help protect a young offense, that will see second year pass catchers like Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley try to take on some type of veteran presence in this offense.

Put it all together and if Dalton can get out of his division games alive, I would consider that a positive for a team that clearly has some growing up to do. Like many quarterbacks taken in the early rounds, Dalton has the ability to be a good pro, but we won’t know for sure until he is tested.

Much like John Beck with the Redskins, or the young quarterbacks in Carolina, fantasy owners are best off looking for the receiver whom their young quarterback locks onto the most, as they tend to find one receiver and throw to them repeatedly. Green could be that receiver but, like Dalton, it will be hard for him to adjust to the pro’s in year one with so little time to work with his teammates.

	Passing Stats			Rushing Stats
	Yards	TD	INT	Yards	TD
2011 Projected Stats	2,479	13	20	66	0